Western Signal Corporation

Western Signal Corporation is an American manufacturer headquartered in Kingsford, Michigan. Western Signal is a American company specializing in active fire protection systems, communication systems, Sirens of various types, testing, inspection and maintenance services. The company main headquarters is in Kingsford, Upper Michigan; corporate sales and marketing offices are shared with Simplex in Westminster, Massachusetts, and the company has about 160 district offices throughout North America.

The company operates three groups: Western Signal Outdoor Warning Systems Western Signal Vehicle Warning Systems and Western Signal Security Systems. Western Signal Outdoor Warning Systems Group manufactures campus alerting systems, public address systems, and alarm systems; including Civil Defense sirens. Western Signal Vehicle Warning Systems manufactures emergency vehicle lighting, emergency sirens, and marine fire alarm systems. Currently, the company has 14 manufacturing facilities in five different countries with subsidiaries and joint ventures based upon those regions.

History
The company began as Western Metalworks in 1875, an Upper Michigan based fabricating company. In 1905 a nonprofit organization granted the company a contract to manufacture outdoor warning sirens; as a result Western Metalworks then split into three separate companies. Western Signal, being one of them, was founded as the Western Alarm Corporation in 1903 as a subsidiary of Western Metalworks in Hancock and by 1911, Western Alarm began manufacturing and selling electrically operated mechanical sirens (such as the Blitz Siren and A3 Siren). As a result, Western Alarm had a new siren facility in Rochester by the mid 1910's. Western also introduced sirens in the early 1920s, most notably the Western Alarm Type 15-SDH. The Type 15-SDH was intended for fire, air-raid and disaster warning applications, and continued in production through the 1980s. The units were noted for their durability; a 1921 siren is still in use today by the Tangerine, California Fire Department.

Two years after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, Western Alarm split off nearly most of their siren business into a new division called Western Siren Solutions to continue production of their simple design siren models. During this restructuring, Western Alarm went defunct and was replaced with Western Enterprises in order for the company to diversify into more complex models, intended to suit the needs of individual municipalities. It was also during this decade that the earliest known supercharged siren, codenamed "Whistler", was designed by Western Enterprises as a patent model for Federal Enterprises' Thunderbolt.

By the 1950s, the company was manufacturing outdoor warning sirens, most notably the Whistler series, primarily intended for warning of air raids or fallout during the Cold War. Many of these sirens have been removed, but some are still in locations such as New York City and McDowell County, Georgia; and since then have been classified as "Ultra Rare" by the siren community.

In 1956, the company became a corporation, renaming itself to "Western Sign and Signal Corporation". By this time, it made outdoor warning sirens, police sirens, fire alarms, and outdoor lighting.

By 1961, Western Sign and Signal had gone public, trading on the Chicago Stock Exchange market. This was when new products started being manufactured and sold, such as the Western Signal Typhoon. In 1976, the company became Western Signal Incorporated.

With dwindling interest in electromechanical sirens, and skepticism over the then-new idea of electronic sirens, sales slowed. Over a five year period from 1989 to 1994, the A3, Blitz, Typhoon Mini, and Blizzard MKI were all discontinued, while only three new models had already entered production: the Blizzard MKII, the Whirlwind and battery backup versions of the Whistler and Typhoon Mini.

On December 26, 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western Signal Corporation announced that Hörmann GmbH will buy the remainder of the company in order for them to focus on fire alarms, burglar alarms, PA systems, and nurse call systems.

Under the terms of the deal, Western Signal was to fold its mass notification business into Western Safety Incorporated and spin off 75% of it's existing assets into a separate entity called WesternGrinell. This will include related assets owned by the company such as parent company Western Metalworks, Western Communicators in Safety and Western Siren Solutions. Western signal also was to have most existing siren models be sold to WesternGrinell and Western Communicators in Safety after the purchase by Hörmann.

On December 24, 1997, it was reported that Western Signal had planned to divest American Signal Corporation, but on February 27, 1998, the plan was disapproved, with American Signal already being acquired by Hörmann GmbH. As a result Western coordinated with Johnson Controls in evaluating a possible acquisition of Western Safety Incorporated. On September 18, 1999, Western officially announced that the sale would be completed by January 5, 2000. On December 26, 1999, the acquisition of Western Safety Incorporated by Johnson Controls was completed in preparation for final consummation of the sale to Hörmann. Two days later, the sale was completed.

Pre-Acquisition

 * Western Signal Whistler
 * Western Signal Blitz
 * Western Signal Typhoon
 * Western Signal Typhoon Mini
 * Western Signal Blizzard Series